A/N: Yes. MAH FIRST AVATAR FANFICTION.
Well, after Zuko came to be one of the G'Aang', I guess it inspired me to make numerous messed up fanfictions about Zuko's interaction with the rest of the group. Really, I never knew Zuko could be that...antisocial. Amusing to watch.
So, I decided to write a ZukoxToph oneshot. Tis' my first Avatar fanfiction, so reviews on it would be nice. First Impression by xspirit.shinobix
"It's been a rough day, hasn't it?"
Zuko turned his head to the doorway, as he rested on his bed, in his new room as a part of the Avatar's group. The room was a simple, square, beige room, with only a window on the side wall for air and sunlight. It was fairly empty, but Sokka had only just established this room as his for the time being, and he didn't bring anything with him on his journey with the Avatar; only a bag filled with clothes and small daily necessities. Other items he possessed were back in the Fire Nation's castle, which he no longer considered to be his home. Abandoning the Fire Nation included leaving the place he had lived most of his life; it included leaving his girlfriend, Mai; it included leaving the honor and respect received after he had 'killed' Aang. For the past hour, he sat on his bed, his head against the wall, contemplating upon his decisions. His attention, however, now fixated upon the girl leaning her shoulder against the entrance, her arms crossed, giving an aura of a rebel.
Ah, the short, black haired girl who had stood up for her as he pleaded to join their group. He'd only seen her several times—he concluded that she hadn't joined the water tribe siblings' and the Avatar's group during the first many encounters with them. All he knew that she was an earth bender, and that her name had a similar ring to it as the word 'Tofu'.
He sighed at her statement, trying not to think back on their—especially Katara's—reactions towards him. "Yeah. It has."
"I'm sure they're just getting used to you; after all, you were relentlessly pursuing after us, weren't you?" Toph replied, grinning. "Though, I do think you should work on your persuasion for the next time you ask for their approval for…anything." She snickered slightly.
Zuko scratched the back of his head, to his chagrin. "Well, I—I do kind of suck at being 'good'. I mean, your feet, I burned—sorry about that; it was an accident. I was half-asleep, and I thought you were an enemy, so my fire bending got slightly out of control…" As he said this, he mentally smacked himself across the head. A prince of the strongest ruling nations in the world, acting like a flustered child who received a lecture for accidentally hurting someone! Really, it's unheard of. And pathetic.
Amused, Toph gave her usual smile. "Really, I just met you, but I know you're a tough, aggressive guy, from other conversations relating to you. I guess what they didn't know was that the fierce prince had a habit of stuttering!" she laughed, causing Zuko to watch her lack of detestation with surprise. "As for my feet, it's really alright. I knew it was on accident, but Twinkle toes—Aang—and the rest got paranoid." Grabbing onto the wall for balance, she lifted up the balm of her feet, seeing that it had mostly healed. "Katara's healing abilities with water," Toph explained, noticing Zuko's shock at the barely visible scar. "The burn wasn't too severe, and the water fountain you saw earlier had enough water for her to use it."
A slight smile grew on his face, relieved that he hadn't hurt anyone. "That's good; I really didn't want to set off on that bad of a start. It's bad enough as it is…with the girl, what's her name, Katara?"
"That sugar queen can be protective of her friends and family. Aang's been through some hardships, and she tries her best to care for him as much as possible. Try not to get on her bad side…trust me, I've gone across it one too many times." she gave a reluctant grunt, remembering her fights with the motherly water bender.
"Ah." He paused, "Hey, To…um…Tofu or...er..."
"It's Toph." She introduced curtly, ignoring the sad attempts of trying to remember her name.
"Oh. Toph. Well, I just had a slight curiosity, but why did you believe me, when the others didn't?" he inquired, for the question had just crossed her mind when she entered his room.
"Well, for starters, I'm blind."
"Blind?" Shock laced throughout Zuko's tone.
"But it's not that I can't see. I see with the earth—I observe things as they are with earth bending. I feel the vibrations throughout the ground, to distinguish where everything is. Like the bed you're sitting on, and your bag that's placed under it. So in general, I can see perfectly fine. In fact, I can notice sounds and motions that you might not. For instance," she pointed at the small crack on the other side of the room. "There's a small spider crawling up the wall from that hole."
Zuko sat up and narrowed his eyes at the crack. She was right. Astonished, he looked at the blind earth bender who stood before him.
"I can detect lies and truths from one's movement and voice as they say something as well." She explained, thinking back to when Zuko requested to join their group. "You stuttered and yelled in frustration, but you were sincere in your words." She finished.
"That's really amazing, I mean, wow, even if you're blind, for you to be able to visualize everything so accurately, it's just—" he hesitated, before shutting his mouth, seeing her half-surprised, half-bemused face. "Um, sorry…I said too much. Sometimes I say random shit and—" the odd look still not leaving from Toph's face, Zuko groaned in irritation, hitting himself on the head. "Damn it, I say such stupid things, I'm such an antisocial freak…" he muttered under his breath.
His inner ramblings were cut off when laughter erupted from the young girl's throat. He stared at her, dumbfounded, as she clutched her stomach in laughter, tears forming from the corners of her eyes. Annoyed and confused by her sudden laughter, he glared at her indignantly. "Damn it, what's so funny?! It's harder than you think to try and make the people who've hated you for ages to accept you again as someone 'good!" he stood up in defiance.
The laughter slowly died down, leaving her crouched on the ground, wiping tears from her eyes. "S-sorr—ha ha, sorry…really, I couldn't help it. A full grown adolescent like you, acting like a little kid who just saw some cheap magic trick, man—the ecstatic expression on your face is just priceless—" she cleared her throat, swallowing the little laughter she contained. "It's just funny to see you having a hard time talking to a kid like me."
"Shut up, brat, before I make you…" he threatened, a blush creeping to his cheeks.
As if tired of sitting in a crouched position, she let her behind fall to the ground, her body leaning against the wall. "Mind if I sit in your room, O Great Prince?" she mocked, a devious smirk on her face.
"Stop with the teasing already, damn it!" giving an angry sigh, he sat back down as well. He really, really wanted to give this unruly brat a nice punch on her head. She's done nothing but make him feel worse. But oddly, something held him back, even with all the frustration he had for her. Though with her irritating, spoiled attitude that could nearly send him over the edge, within all that headstrong devious nature, held some sort of a defiant, rebellious, wild spark which he shared as well. 'Maybe,' he thought with optimism, 'She isn't as bad as I may think.'
"Toph!"
Toph and Zuko both turned their attention outside, seeing Sokka wandering aimlessly. "Man, Sokka's calling for me. See you later, Zuko." She stood up, stretching with a yawn. Suddenly, she stopped.
"Oh, I forgot to do something!"
"Huh?" Zuko said, puzzled.
"This." With that, a devious grin formed across her face. Before Zuko could react, a boulder suddenly blasted out from the ground, and into his stomach with solid impact, causing him to fall flat onto the ground in pain.
Toph chuckled, turning to leave. "Now I'm even with you for burning my feet, O Great Prince Zuko." with that, she disappeared, meeting up with Sokka.
Fuming, Zuko grasped onto the bed sheets, holding onto his stomach painfully. 'Alright, forget what I said. I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL HER.' he thought, gritting his teeth.
Though, Zuko never saw the small, warm smile that appeared on her face before she left, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.
A/N: Good? Bad? Cheesy? Cute? Horribly horrible? Review nao, beeyatchez. Plzkthnxbai.